Selling The Dream: Helping People Get Where They Want To Go, with Melissa Kwan

Real estate is about selling the dream of home ownership. At least that's how Melissa Kwan sees it. And she's all about helping people accomplish their dreams - so when her background in real estate combined with her entrepreneurial bent, she was off in a flash to create something to help agents and customers connect and make that dream happen.

The outcome is Spacio, Melissa's startup company that aims to make the way real estate open houses are done a better experience for prospective buyers and a better sales opportunity for agents. She believes that if she can help the people on both sides of that equation, everyone wins. You'll enjoy hearing Melissa's energy and passion expressed, on this episode.

What has taken the real estate industry so long to get on the technology train?

If you think about the way real estate open houses are done, it's pretty laughable. What other industry has people show up, in person, to a sales demonstration and relies on a paper and pen lead capture device? Yet real estate agents all over the country continue to run their open houses that way. But when a sleek, modern, easy to use digital interface is used instead, so much more is possible after the event and the home-buying prospects who visit the open house immediately see the agent as more advanced, more effective, and more skilled. Melissa Kwan talks about how she's stepped into the real estate industry to provide help agents sell the dream of homeownership, and buyers to feel like they've met an agent they can trust, on this episode of Real Relationships.

Tapping into the magical part of meeting someone face to face - through technology.

To Michelle Kwan, meeting someone face to face has a magical component to it. The interchange, the opportunity to learn about the person's background and core values, the ability to laugh together and share an experience - they're all things that contribute to the first steps of a real and potentially lasting relationship. That's one of the main reasons she's stepped into the real estate industry to make the possibilities of open houses into more of a relationship building exercise than a sales experience, and she's doing it through software. Find out how technology is fueling relationships and profitability at the same time, on this episode.

How to build your business by helping people get where they want to be.

As Michelle and I spoke about the way she's been able to build her business so quickly she was not shy to say that she hasn't attained her present level of success because of her own razor-sharp intellect or good looks. It has all happened because of the relationships she's been able to build that have, in turn, led to introductions that have moved her projects forward. Her firm belief is that if she's busy trying to help other people get where they want to go, they will be equally eager to help her get where she wants to go. So far it's working out pretty well. You can hear her story by listening to this conversation.

The reason doing business is simply about building relationships.

We've all heard it before: People have to know, like, and trust you before they will do business with you. And none of that happens through marketing emails or cold calling alone. These days there has to be a connection between the people behind the transaction that fosters those things. Selling the dream of homeownership as a real estate agent is one of the places where those relationships can be advantageous to both buyer and agent. A home purchase is one of the most important financial investments most people will make in their entire lives. Doesn't it make sense that they'd want to travel that journey with someone they trust? Michelle Kwan explains how she's helping agents do business founded on relationships, on this episode of Real Relationships.

Outline of this great episode:

[0:31] My introduction to Melissa and why she started her company.

[3:30] The lack of digital integration in Real Estate open houses and why it's taken so long for the industry to move digital.

[6:41] How is an agent going to use the data they get from using Spacio?

[9:55] Effective tactics successful agents use to follow up on an open house.

[15:20] How Melissa has been able to quickly infiltrate the Real Estate space.